Elizabeth Cannon, Executive Director, OICTS
Happy New Year everyone! As the new year begins, I wanted to give you a few updates about the office.
When I talk to industry about Commerce’s Information and Communications Technologies and Services (ICTS) program, I describe two ways the ICTS mandate can be used. One way is to investigate specific entities involved in ICTS transactions and determine their connections to foreign adversaries and whether their involvement in ICTS transactions poses an undue risk to U.S. national security. If we determine there is excessive risk, we may prohibit transactions or take mitigating measures. The second way the ICTS authority can be used is to address categories of ICTS that we determine pose an undue risk to U.S. national security if they are provided by entities affiliated with foreign adversaries. In these circumstances, regulations may be enacted to address ICTS categories. Over the past month, OICTS has been busy on two fronts.
In early December, we published the final ICTS rules, which replace the interim rules that went into effect in January 2021. The final rule establishes the procedures our office will use to review certain entities and their ICTS transactions. This rule makes several important updates to the interim rule, including consolidating the list of technologies within the scope of the rule, outlining the sources of information the Secretary of Commerce may consider when making initial and final decisions, and improving recordkeeping requirements for parties. . On the deal. These rules will guide future individual investigations. Next year, we plan to publish the conclusions of several investigations and announce final decisions on those actions, as Kaspersky Lab Inc. did last June.
Just today, we also published for public inspection an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the Federal Register. As with connected vehicles, we are beginning our investigation by asking a series of questions to better understand ICTS integrated into UAS, the risks associated with UAS, and the involvement of foreign adversaries in the supply chain. If you have stocks in this space, please submit your comments. Your thoughtful feedback will greatly assist us in determining whether and how to regulate foreign intervention in this industry. (I would like to emphasize that this ANPRM has been in development for several months and predates drone activity in New Jersey and New York.)
Finally, my colleagues and I visited Asia (Japan, Taiwan, and Korea) in early December to engage with local stakeholders about ICTS programs. The meeting was incredibly productive, and we look forward to further engagement with our allies next year!
final rule
ANPRM
relevant
Learn more in sUAS News
Subscribe to receive the latest posts by email.
